A friend of mine, Brad Fish, recently wrote a response to my article “From President Ahmadinejad.” He had some strong feelings and honest concerns that I’d like to address here. It seems like a good place and time to bring some of these points up.

1. The nuclear program

Brad: “He doesn’t seem to want to discuss or negotiate his nuclear program very much”

And for good reason, although I do hope an opportunity opens up soon.

First, we can’t really be certain of what Iran’s intentions are with its nuclear program. On the face of it, Iran claims its program is a civilian energy program. So far, we have good reason to believe them. The CIA claims there is no evidence to date that Iran’s program is anything but what they says it is.

So, Iran claims they have every right to a nuclear energy program. This seems reasonable. The US, on the other hand, claims they have no right to a nuclear anything. This position seems to be based on fear. Both sides seem unrelenting—thus it’s not just President Ahmadinejad who is an instigator of the negotiation stalemate. Neither the US nor Iran seems to “want to discuss or negotiate…very much.”

But “what if” I’m wrong? What if Iran’s intentions are deceptive after all, and they have a clandestine nuclear enrichment program in full production right now? That’s the question that gets all of us worried. That’s why we’re willing to suspend reason and follow our leaders faithfully. But, as with the reasons for war in Iraq, it’s a ridiculous argument if you turn the tables around. What if Kim Jong Il is making bombs for the purpose of nuking America? Should we engage his country in another pre-emptive war? What if America is planning to go to war with Iran? Shouldn’t they prepare to defend themselves by bombing America? What if Israel intends to use its nuclear bombs on Lebanon? Where does “what if” end?

Brad: “And I’m sure he agrees that the United Nations and every nation in it is corrupt as well?”

I realize you’re asking this tongue-in-cheek, but I’ll answer directly anyway: I doubt it. The fact that the United States started an illegal war with Iraq based on doctored evidence would scare me silly if I were Iranian. There’s simply no reason for them to believe that we, the United States, won’t cook up some new “evidence” with which to justify a new war with Iran. But in spite of this, it appears that there is some evidence of good will in the letter from President Ahmadinejad. I don’t know of any letter from President Bush to the Iranians, assuring them that there exists a great deal of common ground on which we can all try to work. I think we should work with the evidence—then add to that a dash of hope in a peaceful future—and try to suppress our natural fight-or-flight instincts.

2. Iran’s position of responsibility

Duane: “Iran, more than any other nation will—like the mother of an illegitimate child—bear the responsibility of the political chaos and social upheaval we started in Iraq.”

Brad: “Can you explain how this is the case?”

My point here is that Iran has *no choice* but to be politically and financially responsible for the mess in Iraq. They are neighbors. Thousands of people are fleeing Iraq, moving to adjoining nations, including Iran. The US, on the other hand, has no such material obligation. Morally, of course, we are obligated—just like the father who conceives a baby is morally obligated to pay child support. But how many divorced fathers actually do that? The United States does not *have to* help in the same way as Iran does.

Brad: “How are they helping to rebuild?”

To my knowledge, they are not doing anything at the moment. But if Iran’s close ties to Hizballah is any indication of how Iran will treat the poor and the weary, the battered and orphaned, the hungry and the homeless, then the way that Hizballah has helped to rebuild southern Lebanon is quite a testimony.

Hezbollah has promised to provide housing and furniture for the next year to each of the tens of thousands of families whose homes were destroyed by the month-long Israeli bombing campaign. Hezbollah spokesmen say the funding will come from foreign donors, including Iran, and it will be disbursed directly, not through the Lebanese government. (NPR)

Of course, Iran is also funding Hizballah’s military restocking as well, and there’s little doubt that this stream of support is also going to new arms and new defense options. I know it’s not all peaches and cream with selfless interest here. But there are thousands of people in Lebanon who are willing to covertly help Hizballah. Why? Are they all terrorists? I think it’s a tribute to the security and hope that the people feel that Hizballah has grass-roots support.

3. We never intended to stay

Brad: “First we criticize the government for staying in Iraq, and then we criticize the government for NOT planning to stay in Iraq? The hypocrisy is mind-boggling.”

I can understand the confusion. Perhaps I can recycle my “illegitimate child” analogy to shed light on this apparent hypocrisy.

Suppose you hear that a friend’s wife recently gave birth to a son. You call him up and congratulate him. What a joyous occasion!

A couple of weeks later, however, you discover that your friend and his wife aren’t married. It’s a little disturbing that they’ve been hiding it all this time, and if you’re conservative, maybe it’s a little worrisome that this new baby boy was born out of wedlock.

You wonder if they should have made the choice to have the baby in the first place. But you and your other friends agree that the couple should definitely stick it out, in spite of what may originally have been poor judgment that brought this new life in to the world.

Finally, after a month has gone by, you find out that your friend—the father—has been indicted of rape and that his “wife” was actually a prostitute whom he had been forcing to stay with him.

Should this man, this deceptive friend, stay with the mother or leave?

The question, I believe, is almost irrelevant. Neither his staying nor his leaving will reprieve him of his first crime.

As a nation, we didn’t know at first what was going on. We didn’t know we were being lied to. We went to war on a sacred trust that the cause was legitimate. I believed President Bush was the best thing that could have happened to America in such a time of need. But then things became a bit murky. Osama Bin Laden slipped out of sight. The connection between Iraq and 9/11 began to unravel faster. Doubts crept in. But most of us still followed President Bush’s “stay the course” resolution.

Now, however, we are beginning to see that the first act—9/11— was perhaps not just incompetence on the part of our leaders, but actually criminal. In that case, the Bush administration is and ought to be “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” with regard to Iraq. And if it is criminal, then whether we stay the course or cut and run, we, as a nation, were absolutely in the wrong.

Brad: “We have stayed in Iraq, and we are trying to rebuild it.”

At the moment, we are trying to keep the number of deaths down. I’m not sure I would consider that “rebuilding”. Maybe it’s fair to say we’re trying.

4. Lenses

Brad: “Perhaps you should reassess some of your own hardened opinions and views towards those you criticize?”

Something I am willing to do. I just can’t get around 9/11 without believing there was gross criminal negligence or criminal intent on the part of the Bush administration. Given the strong evidence, the lens through which I see our world has refocused.

5. Iran is the instigator?

Brad: “[Iran] disrupted peace between Lebanon and Israel by kidnapping Israeli soldiers in their neighbor’s backyard and thus incited the Israelis to violence.”

While I am no authority on the Middle East and its cycles of bloodshed and hatred, I am surprised that you think there is such a clear “bad guy” that instigated the war this summer. This is a war that has gone on for decades. There is terrible pain and suffering that has been felt by families on both sides. But if you want to find a “first cause” for this particular bout, then from what I understand, it was more the Israeli’s fault for kidnapping two *civilians* on June 24th (several days prior to the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit). This is according to Noam Chomsky, someone far more qualified than I am to tell who started it.

6. Terrorism, terrorism, terrorism

Brad: “Iran has a proven track record of terrorism.”

And so does nearly every other country in the world, including this one. What bothers me most about our culture here is that we believe we are so enlightened that we ought to go and beat others in to submission so that they can be “enlightened” like we are. We accuse everyone else of being deceitful but we are skeptical when we hear people attest to our own country’s corruption. We think that “cooperating with the international community” is synonymous with “cooperating with the United States”.

If President Ahmadinejad wrote a letter of contempt, would you interpret it as something other than contempt? Let’s get off the high horse and take a letter of good will for what it is—a letter of good will.